I’ve just released the second volume boxset of Midsummer books–that’s Beast, Gold, and Lost combined–on Amazon. Right now it’s KU exclusive, but I’ll see late fall about selling it elsewhere. The individual books do well in other stores but the boxsets less so; I’m going to temporarily make Vol I a KU exclusive as well for a few months and perhaps run a countdown deal to see if that boosts sales. If you or your friends haven’t had a chance to check out Midsummer yet, this is an inexpensive way to try!

It’s time to venture back to Midsummer for another dark contemporary fairy tale!

A single father’s worst nightmare…

Clive Yates has been a single father for the past five years, raising his young kids on his own after their mother abandoned them. But his whole world is shattered the moment they’re taken, and the police inform him the M.O. resembles that of a long-dormant serial killer of children. The dangerous forest outside of Midsummer is massive, and with no idea where to search, he fears his kids might not be found in time. But there is one person who has seen the killer’s face, a girl who escaped with her brother so many years ago.

She survived what no child should ever suffer…

Fifteen years ago, Greta Weaver and her foster brother were abducted and brought to a cabin of horrors deep in the forest. They escaped, but just barely, both with scars that have made growing up difficult. She’s tried to make a life for herself outside her childhood town, though nightmares plague her sleep and she’s kept herself isolated. Her abductor—almost killer—was never caught, and part of her always remained lost in those woods, afraid of what would happen if he found her.

When Clive comes to her for help, she just wants to hide from the world, but can’t bear the thought of seeing a parent lose his children. She’ll have to confront her fears–and her past–if Clive is ever going to see his kids again.

It really is dark–TW for discussions of child abuse, and graphic violence–but like any good fairy tale, it has an undercurrent of hope and survival. This was a really tough book to build a romance around given the heavy subject matter, but giving these two people going through such horror time to find each other was really rewarding for me as a writer.

I have another WIP in progress but don’t have a draft ready yet so there’s no pre-order–I’m hoping at this point for maybe a June release. Details coming as soon as I have them.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy LOST! Brief excerpt under the cut.

Return to the sleepy hamlet of Midsummer for another fairytale-inspired romantic suspense tale! (Hansel and Gretel this time!)

A single father’s worst nightmare has come to pass…

Clive Yates has been a single father for the past five years, raising his young kids on his own after their mother abandoned them. But his whole world is shattered the moment they’re taken, and the police inform him the M.O. resembles that of a long-dormant serial killer of children. The dangerous forest outside of Midsummer is massive, and with no idea where to search, he fears his kids might not be found in time. But there is one person who has seen the killer’s face, a girl who escaped with her brother so many years ago.

She survived what no child should ever suffer…

Fifteen years ago, Greta Weaver and her foster brother were abducted and brought to a cabin of horrors deep in the forest. They escaped, but just barely, both with scars that have made growing up difficult. She’s tried to make a life for herself outside her childhood town, though nightmares plague her sleep and she’s kept herself isolated. Her abductor—almost killer—was never caught, and part of her always remained lost in those woods, afraid of what would happen if he found her.

When Clive comes to her for help, she just wants to hide from the world, but can’t bear the thought of seeing a parent lose his children. She’ll have to confront her fears–and her past–if Clive is ever going to see his kids again.

Hopefully by the time this one releases, I’ll have my next release up for preorder as well–I’m trying to focus on some standalone works for a bit. I’ll revisit Midsummer for the final trilogy toward the end of the year or early next.

It turns out I haven’t put out a book since…*checks*…May! Turns out, I haven’t written anything either. My family had a rough year and while Beast did extremely well (THANK YOU to everyone who bought it), Gold did not, and I haven’t been able to afford the time off to write. In addition, the news that All Romance eBooks wouldn’t be paying me (and other authors) hit really hard, as I counted on that money.

I’ve been tackling the next Midsummer book off and on, and I think I might finally have a workable outline for it. At least I know where people are supposed to kiss, and that’s half the battle in an outline. So, at present, I’m working on Lost, which is my contemporary take on Hansel & Gretel (no incest, though). No release date and no preorder yet, but I’ll post when I’ve got some news.

Given that Beast did well, I’m looking at finally writing a particularly dark erotic thriller I’ve had percolating in my head for some time now. I’ll provide more details and teasers later, but for now I’ll just say that it’ll likely appeal to fans of Beast and Sympathy for the Devil, and will be a very non-traditional romance with a lot of heat between two people born of tragedy.

I’ve had a lot of visitors lately looking into what I have in the pipeline (more Stirling Falls, more Midsummer, and yes, yes, I know–more CATS), and I’m sorry I haven’t had more frequent, firm updates. I expected to release a lot last year and just sort of hit a wall. Hopefully being off readers’ radars for so long won’t negatively impact future sales too badly and I can get more works your way soon. Thank you for stopping by, your support keeps me going!

Today the fifth Midsummer Suspense Tale, Gold, is out in the world! As I forgot to do any promo for it, here’s the guest post I would’ve written if I’d remembered.

In Praise of the Blue Collar Hero

The funny thing I realized in writing this book is that I finally had a Midsummer Tale without a wealthy hero.

That’s unusual for me, as I prefer a regular guy sort of lead male character. No offense to those who love billionaire books, but it’s not my cuppa. As nice as it would be when struggling to support a family, I find little appeal in a wealthy man swooping in to ease the financial burden–I think because in real life I’ve found it always comes with a cost, and one I’m no longer willing to pay. This is why the heroes of my other books tend to be ordinary men–a gardener, a construction worker, a horse wrangler (with the exception of Carter the writer, though his money is running out by the time the reader meets him in The Book of Love).

But the Midsummer Tales are modernized fairy tales, and so many of those stories have a prince that they crept into the stories. Even then, it was important to me to have heroines who insisted on standing on their own two feet. Gina in Cinders could have been rescued by Brennen–he was more than willing to help her–but she refused to be indebted to him, preferring to earn her way in the world. Both those characters continue to struggle to find a balance between her need for financial independence and his desire to see her loosen the reins a little and lean on him. Bryar in Beauty meets Sawyer, a wealthy pop star, but has no idea who he is, and his wealth has little bearing on their story.

It took a turn in Snow when Mike gave up everything he personally had to save Liliana, but that was necessary for her to realize here was a man who didn’t put a price on her, who valued her. And Joseph’s billionaire status in Beast afforded him the eccentricities required to keep himself hidden, and Belle had no need for any of his money.

And then we get to Gold. Ross comes from a working class family who has always struggled, and the reader first meets him stepping out of prison. It was refreshing to get back to a working class lead male character who had to struggle just like regular folks, who balked at the wealth of some of the other Midsummer residents (and tried really, really hard not to steal from any of them), who just wanted to help his family. Low income families on the verge of poverty deal with some of the greatest stress, especially when one major illness can bankrupt you, or if running your own business one bad year can cost you everything. That’s how Ross grew up, all he knows, and it’s a stark contrast with the other men so far in Midsummer who don’t live paycheck to paycheck. It’s Kryssie who has the hidden wealth, Kryssie who could provide for him if needed–Kryssie with the ticket out of a lot of bad situations Ross finds himself in.

So how does that turn out? Well, you can now read and find out about what happens when Goldilocks/The Miller’s Daughter curls up in tattooed ex-con Baby Bear’s bed…

It’s his last chance at a life of freedom.

Gabe Ross has never not been in trouble. The principal’s office led to juvie, juvie led to jail. Getting probation on good behavior was difficult enough, but he did it and now he’s home with a job lined up and a shot at staying out of prison if he keeps on the straight and narrow. As the small town of Midsummer settles into spring, Ross prepares to open the cabins his family owns for the seasonal vacationers. Late one night he finds a girl curled up in his bed and assumes his ex has figured out he’s back in town and is looking for a little fun.

The criminal underworld’s golden girl wants a way out.

Kryssie Locke is known in criminal circles for spinning nothing into virtual gold, a reputation she built to save her life. She’s escaped at last with enough knowledge that her former employers are hunting her, and hiding out in a cabin in the woods seems like it’ll give her time to figure things out. She doesn’t realize the cabin is owned by the Ross family, nor is she expecting their youngest son to crawl into bed with her.

The attraction between them is electric and immediate. But Ross is trying to stick to his probation and Kryssie is tempting him to break just that. Because as he’s starting to fall for her, he knows he’ll do anything to keep her safe from those hunting her. Even kill.

I usually like to have the next book up for pre-order when one releases, but…I haven’t started anything new yet. The tentative research plans I’d made for Gimme Shelter have fallen through, so that book is officially off my schedule (my apologies to Stirling Falls readers). I haven’t plotted out either Lost (Midsummer #6) or Cat’s in the Cradle (Cats & Conjure #5) yet, unfortunately. I have a busy summer ahead of me so I might take a bit of a break and come back with new work in the fall. If you want to keep up to date, you can subscribe to my blog, follow me on Facebook, or Amazon uses can click the “Follow” button on my Amazon profile to get notified of new releases and pre-orders.